Stretchable circuits enable electronics onto non-planar 3D surfaces. Distinguished from flexible circuits, which can simply be place on a 2D non-planar surface, stretchable circuits can support biaxial strain rather than simply uniaxial strain. A stretchable circuit can be wrapped around 3D objects. Microscale devices such as a mini UAV, need to not only put electronics on non-planar surfaces, but also embed sensors all over a mini-structure to detect temperature, pressure, force, or other input that a mini system may want to detect, i.e. aeronautical, biological, or other related sensors.
Systems with coiled interconnects, which are 3D in nature, are not readily created with standard micro-fabrication planar processing techniques and hence are not easily integrated. On the other hand, standard metal thin films of aluminum, wire bonding, and soldering for the electrical connections offer very limited stretchability. Conventional metal wires patterned on continuous sheets of an elastomer offer only uniaxial strain for micro-scale.
What is needed is a low cost stretchable electronic skin design and fabrication technique that provides a stretchable electronic circuit skin for integrating electronics over the structure of a microscale system. Moreover, what is needed is an easily manufactured stretchable electronic skin capable of a large amount of stretch.